This was announced by Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Censor.NET reports.

"I hear two legends about the road fund. The first says the road fund has been there for a while, so where are the roads? Second is that the road fund will soon end its existence. I have a response. To the first legend: the road fund will start operating on Jan. 1, 2018. To the second one: the road fund will start operating on Jan. 1, 2018," he said.

Omelian said Ukraine has the worst situation with road accidents among all of European countries.

In 2016, Ukraine saw 3,500 deaths in road accidents and sustained losses of about $4.5 billion.

The minister said that his ministry together with Ukravtodor state road agency have developed a strategy on enhancing traffic security by 2020.

The plan stipulates for new engineering standards for road construction and requirements to vehicles; new ways to provide aid to road accident casualties; better control over traffic and drivers; new principle to teach traffic rules in schools.

Omelian said these measures should help decreasing the number of road accidents by 2020.